"NOTHING IS MORE HONORABLE THAN A GRATEFUL HEART." -SenecaHow about making your Thanksgiving an eco-friendly tradition starting this year? Here are a few tips to help you capture the spirit of the original, "green" Thanksgiving. It's a perfect way to say thanks to our planet!1. ReduceBuy only as much as you need and choose products in recyclable packaging.2. ReuseCarry reusable bags when you shop. Use cloth napkins and real dinnerware and utensils which can be washed and reused.3. RecycleRecycle paper, plastic, glass and aluminum containers. (Chatham's Transfer Station now accepts all plastics except styrofoam!) If you don’t already have a compost bin, use your Thanksgiving fruit and vegetable trimmings to start one. The compost will enrich the soil in your garden next spring.2. Buy Locally Grown Food When PossibleBuying locally grown food requires less fuel to reach store shelves and contributes more to your local economy.3. Make Your Meal as Organic as Possible Better for your health and the environment, organic farming produces higher yields, increases soil fertility, prevents erosion, and is more cost-effective for farmers.4. Celebrate at Home If You CanThanksgiving weekend is one of heaviest for travel, and therefore emissions. Why not reduce global warming and skip that stressful holiday travel this year?

Special Thanks! to all the visitors, volunteers and donors to ChathamRecycles' 4th Annual Drop & Swap.And Thanks! also to you, our readers and fellow recyclers!

Friday, September 30, 2011

It's Not Too Soon to Plan a Green Halloween!Halloween is spooky by nature, but it doesn't have to be a scary time for the environment too. A few simple tips...1) Cloth shopping bags, or even pillowcases, make terrific alternatives to paper or plastic bags to collect treats.Americans use more than 380 million plastic bags and 10 million paper bags every year. Plastic ends up as litter, kills thousands of marine mammals annually, and breaks down slowly into small particles that continue to pollute soil and water. During production, plastic bags require millions of gallons of fossil fuels; and paper bag production consumes more than 14 million trees annually in the U.S.2) Instead of buying a costume that might be worn once, make your own costumes from old clothes and other items around the house. Or find inexpensive costume materials from thrift stores and yard sales. Your children might even enjoy trading Halloween costumes with friends to have something “new” and different to wear.

3) Give your visiting ghouls treats that treat the environment gently. There is a growing variety of eco-friendly candy. Choose treats with little or no non-recyclable packaging. Buy locally if possible to support the local economy and reduce fuel consumption and pollution associated with transportation. Or avoid candy altogether and give small gifts like colored pencils, crayons, small toys, stickers or other inexpensive items.

5) Living an eco-friendly lifestyle and reducing waste and pollution should be a daily event, not a special occasion. With a little thought, you can apply the strategies you use to have a green Halloween to the way you live every day!

Introducing "Cape Crusader" and Recycling Partner - Milley Trucking!And we thought WE had been recycling for a long time. When Tim Milley'sgreat uncle started in the hauling business, the company immediatelybegan recycling - in 1928! Ashes for the garden, kitchen scraps for thelivestock, and eventually scrap metals in 1945 when Tim's father took over.Recycling continued when Tim purchased the company in 1978 and expandedin 1990 to include glass, tin cans, newspaper, cardboard, paper,and plastic for his commercial customers.

The company also serves Chatham Public Schools and the three schools'recycling programs.

In 2010 Milley began providing dual-stream recycling to his residential customersvia a separate truck operating on different days from the trash pick-ups.Stream #1 is plastic, glass and metal; stream #2 is mixed fibers: paper and junk mail.

"Recycling is a very costly and labor intensive endeavor and I have been trying for morethan 20 years to make it feasible," says Milley. "Since 1990 we have recycled approximately3,500 tons of material that never went to the Chatham Transfer Station."

To his current customers, Tim Milley says please make recyclables as clean as possible.Dirty and/or food-laden items can contaminate a load and risk refusal by the purchaser.

We know it takes time, energy, money and extra manpower, and we salute Milley Truckingfor their commitment to recycling! In the end, it keeps many items from the waste stream;saves natural resources used to manufacture brand new items; and eventually reducescostly dumping fees for Milley Trucking and for the Town of Chatham.

A new school year means new stuff! Supplies, calculators, clothes, backpacks, etc. Consider these tips as you prepare:

School Supplies• Many supplies are reusable. Reuse notebooks with paper left ; folders that are not too battered; and backpacks, binders and calculators.• Several organizations accept donated supplies for schools around the world. If there are items you can't reuse yourself, consider donating.• When buying new supplies, look for products - pencils, notebooks, folder and other paper products - that contain recycled content.• As much as possible, purchase supplies in bulk and with minimal packaging. This keeps materials out of the waste stream.

Lunches and Snacks• Instead of plastic or paper bags, use reusable cloth or plastic containers. Buy a reusable plastic or metal container for drinks, rather than single-use water bottles or juice boxes. This saves you money and reduces waste.

Clothing, Electronics and Other Supplies•Last year's clothes, shoes, sporting goods and backpacks may no longer fit. If they're in good, usable condition, consider donating them to charitable organizations, keeping them out of the trash loop and helping those in need.• If replacing computers, printers, calculators or other electronics, consider donating or recycling them. Many organizations will accept donations of working electronics, and the Chatham Transfer Station accepts e-waste for recycling, some for a small fee.•Look into solar chargers for cell phones, etc.

Education•Back-to-school season is a great time to talk to kids and teachers about the importance of waste reduction and recycling. Talk to your child and teachers about how to reduce the amount of waste they create, reuse what they can and recycle the rest..and why this is important.

You no longer have to stand at the Chatham Recycling Center looking back and forth from the bottle in your hand to one bin, then another, wondering all the while: "Is this a #1, #2, or a #3 through #7?? Oh great, I left my glasses in the car!"

Second, the reason for the first good news:

Plastics #1 through #7 no longer have to be separated!!

Many surveys show that 9 out of 10 people say they would recycle more if it was easier. Well, toss one more excuse in the dumpster because, as long as your plastic item has the universal recycling logo and a #l through #7, you are welcome to toss it in the bins marked "Plastics #1 - #7" at the Chatham Transfer Station's Recycling Center.

Just two minor requests please: rinse items to avoid bees and other critters;and put caps in designated chutes.

In some industries, recycling of widely used materials can sharply reduce the energy requirements for reprocessing. For example, increased use of paper recycling could also save enormous amounts of energy and help avoid increased deforestation in the world. Recycling offers even larger gains in the aluminum industry. The production of aluminum from bauxite ore is one of the most energy-intensive processes in the global economy. However, 95 percent of the energy can be eliminated by processing recycled aluminum instead of producing fresh quantities from bauxite. Yet vast quantities of aluminum are discarded annually. In the United States alone, more than 50 billion aluminum cans are thrown away each year - more than half of the 100 billion sold each year. The Container Recycling Institute reported that between 1990 and 2000, citizens of the United States wasted enough aluminum cans to "reproduce the world's entire commercial air fleet 25 times." Large quantities of aluminum are also discarded - instead of being recycled - in the form of appliances and other durable goods. When you add the 29 billion glass bottles and 7 billion higher density plastic bottles and jugs that are also thrown away each year instead of being recycled, it means that there are 9 aluminum, plastic, or glass containers thrown away every week on average by every man, woman and child in the United Stats. If they were routinely recycled instead, the energy saved in making new containers would equal the energy equivalent of 53.5 million barrels of imported crude oil - which would be the equivalent of eliminating all the gasoline used by two million cars."

Finally, a few comments from your Chatham Recycling Center workers:*PLEASE READ the signs. If you're still not sure, PLEASE ASK.*Metal Objects bin: small objects only, no electrical items. (Most go to other area at no charge. Please ask at entrance.)*Please understand that the magazine table had to be removed due to budget cuts and man hours required to tend to it. Please continue to recycle your magazines.

* Recycling conserves natural resources such as water, minerals and wood which are necessary to make brand new products.* Recycling saves energy because less is used to manufacture new products.* Recycling produces fewer greenhouse gases thereby addressing global warming, because industries burn fewer fossil fuels in manufacturing and transportation.* Recycling kept 82 million tons of waste from landfills and incinerators in 2009.* Recycling does not always earn a profit, but it always costs less than waste disposal.* Towns and individuals can earn money from some recyclables.* Recycling programs create 4 jobs for every 1 job in the waste disposal industry.* By conserving natural resources, recycling prevents the destruction of many natural habitats.* Recycling decreases soil erosion associated with the mining and logging of natural resources.

WE'VE GOT SOME GOOD NEWS AND SOME NOT SO GOOD NEWS -- LET'S TALK PLASTICS

Plastics #3 through #7, that is.

As you probably know by now, the Chatham Transfer Station is once again accepting plastic containers #3 through #7 for recycling (marked inside the universal triangle recycling logo).

Hooray! This is wonderful news for all of us, since many items - yogurt, cream cheese, takeout food, prescriptions, just to name a few - come in this type of plastic container.

And of course, plastics #1 and #2 continue to be accepted.

That's the good news.

And now for the less than wonderful news: While we are just as excited as you to again finally be able to send these items to be recycled, rather than into the trash, we're runninginto a bit of a "contamination" problem. Simply put, this means that too many NON plastic #3-7 items are ending up in this collection.

Please remember to look for #3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 inside the universal triangle recycling logo somewhere on the container. And don't even bother looking on any styrofoam container.Styrofoam is not allowed at all. Also not allowed: motor oil containers.

We're all very happy and grateful to the Transfer Station crew to be able to recycle our plastics #3 - 7 again. Let's be sure to do it right so we can have it available for a long time!

Saturday, April 22 is Earth Day. The theme this 41st year is A Billion Acts of Green: personal, organizational and corporate pledges to better our environment. The goal is to register one billion acts -- anything from using your car a little less to converting your business to solar -- before the Earth Summit in Rio in 2012. It's easy to pledge -- 80 million so far! Please visit:

Yep, in just a few days, the Chatham Transfer Station will be accepting plastic containers #'s 3 through 7 (items MUST have recycling symbol and number - no styrofoam or unmarked items please). Plastics #1 and #2 continue to be accepted.

Watch for signs at the Recycling Center, and thanks so much for your patience!

Check out the following behaviors from "Environmental Leader" and see where you land on the "Green Gauge." Do you:

*Buy environmentally friendly products?*Buy products which use less packaging?*Limit energy use at home?*Buy energy-efficient appliances/insulation?*Refuse to buy products from companies with poor environmentalrecords?*Buy recycled products?*Recycle at home?

Think about what you use every single day for: morning shower, making coffee, work commute, drive to lunch, watching TV, doing laundry, etc. It all adds up. Now think about how much time, money and resources you’d save if you just used a little bit less each day. Some things to consider in 2011:1. Turn the thermostat down a few degrees2. Using cold water can save 90 percent of your washing machine’s power utilization. 3. Use products made from recycled content to cut down on your use of virgin materials.4. Shorten your shower one minute and save 150 gallons of water per month.5. Use Less Paper. If you have to print, print on both sides and recycle it when you can. 6. Use Less Packaging. Try buying from bulk bins and recycle your packaging.7. Use Fewer Hazardous Materials. Always read labels, and try using natural pesticides and making your own cleaning products.8. Use Less Gas. Slow down! 55 mph can give you 21 percent better mileage than 65 mph. Buy gas early in the morning or late at night to get more for your money.9. Use Less Tech. Electronics drain electricity, use non-renewable metals and contain toxic chemicals. Use fewer electronics, turn off or "sleep" when not in use, and properly dispose of used ones.10. Create Less Trash. The average American throws away 90,000 pounds of trash in his or her lifetime. Use reusables and recyclables whenever possible!11. Use Fewer Disposables. They may be convenient, but not for Mother Earth. Again, reusables and/or recyclables!

11 for '11! Every little bit helps!ChathamRecycles.orgVisit us on Facebook too!

Forgive us our yuletide e-editing, and now let’s sit back and enjoy these tasty holiday morsels...

Eco-Friendly Wrapping PaperMost mass-produced wrapping paper ends up in the trash. Instead, get creative! Consider reusable gift bags, newspaper, maps, magazines, comics, children’s art, old greeting cards or even fabric (new scarf, dish towel, bandana, etc.). If every family wrapped just three gifts this way, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. If you must buy gift-wrap, look for recycled - and ideally recyclable - paper. Avoid foil-wrap as it isn't recyclable at all. Use little or no tape if possible.

Energy-Saving Holiday LightsA no-brainer - Less energy, lower bills!

Include Organic and Local Foods in Your Holiday FeastCheck it out! http://www.ediblecommunities.com/capecod/resources/resources.htm

Get a Pesticide-Free TreeSome Christmas tree growers use 40 different pesticides, as well as chemical colorants. There are now a number of tree-farms that sell pesticide-free trees, so ask your local Christmas tree seller, or find an organic tree farm near you: http://www.localharvest.org

Recycle Your Christmas TreeThe real vs. artificial debate continues, both having their pros and cons. Some people put their live tree, roots and all, in a pot to replant outside after Christmas. Sadly, each year, 10 million Christmas trees end up in the trash, and there is no ‘pro’ in that. Take your tree to Chatham's Transfer Station for recycling into mulch or wood chips.